From Wednesday 27 March to Sunday 31 March, the twenty-third Courtisane Festival will take place in Ghent, Belgium. During the festival, Courtisane, a platform for film and audiovisual arts, will explore the relationships between image and world, aesthetics and politics, experimentation and engagement. Pieter-Paul Mortier, artistic director of the festival, guides us through this year’s programme.

Van woensdag 27 maart tot en met zondag 31 maart vindt het 23ste Courtisane festival plaats in Gent. Tijdens het festival onderzoekt Courtisane, een platform voor film en audiovisuele kunsten, de relaties tussen beeld en wereld, esthetiek en politiek, experiment en engagement. Pieter-Paul Mortier, artistiek en zakelijk leider van het festival, gidst ons door het programma van dit jaar.

From 18 to 31 March, the Cinémathèque française in Paris is hosting a complete retrospective of French filmmaker Nicolas Philibert. The retrospective coincides with the release of Philibert’s new film Averroès & Rosa Parks (2024) in French theatres.

The Italian director Paolo Taviani passed away on the 29th of February. It marks an end to a long cinematic journey which begins back in the 1950's with his life long collaborator and brother Vittorio Taviani.

American film scholar and writer David Bordwell passed away last week on 29 February.

From March to July, BOZAR and CINEMATEK are hosting a joint retrospective of the life and work of Belgian film director Chantal Akerman. We listed all the activities and events for the coming months.

On Sunday 3 March, Kaaitheater in Brussels is showing Route 181: Fragments of a Journey in Palestine-Israel by Eyal Sivan and Michel Khleifi. The film will be shown in the context of Refusing to Disappear, a series of decentralised film screenings and discussions organised by United Screens for Palestine, held in different cities and venues across Belgium to celebrate the rich legacy of Palestinian storytelling through films.

From 29 February to 20 March, Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam will screen an extensive retrospective of French filmmaker Claire Denis.

Na tien edities verdwijnt de internationaal gerenommeerde Contour Biënnale voor Bewegend Beeld. De sector van de audiovisuele en beeldende kunsten is een petitie gestart om het verdwijnen van de biënnale te voorkomen.

After ten editions, the internationally renowned Contour Biennial of Moving Images is now slated to disappear. The audiovisual arts sector launched a petition to avert its cancellation.